2GB of memory possible in Athlon64 motherboard?

[outer]

Hey, someone just told me that there's no way I can get 2GB of memory to work in an Athlon 64 system, this person said "Only Intel has that capability or server boards from either company. "

I was also informed that Trancend brand memory is nothing but crap. Can anyone confirm this stuff either way?

You see, I bought the Gigabyte GA-K8VT800M (micro ATX), and Athlon 64 3400+, and 2GB of trancend DDR400... and I couldn't get it to work very well together, so I RMA'd most of it to be safe. According to all of the specs, this stuff should work together. The motherboard is on AMD's good list, and the memory is standard DDR400... I thought I was safe. Am I screwed?

I appreciate any light that can be shed on this!

 

[Vette73]

I also am having problems running 2 slabs (16 chips on each slab, 8 each side) of 512mg (1gig) of PC3200. When I take one slab out the system runs great.

I have heard that is you run the ram at PC2700 it will work, but I rather have 512mg of PC3200 then 1gig of PC2700. AMD is updating the core of the Athlon64 so I think it will be fixed in a month or 2.


Also why do you want to run 2gig??? If you want to run that much get a Opteron board and set that up, or wait for the socket 939 Athlons

 

[mechBgon]

Here is a 2GB kit from Corsair: $566 The current stepping of A64 can run two memory modules at PC3200 speeds, but if you add a third module it will downshift to PC1600 speeds for stability. The upcoming CG stepping of the A64 is supposed to open the door for a third PC3200 module at full speed, which would be nice.

Like Marlin1975 said, you might think about Opteron too. Registered ECC modules cost more, but not insanely more: $699 and you can add another pair later for 4GB if you really need it.

 

[mechBgon]

By the way, I fell short of my usual inquisitiveness... outer, what are the full system specs, and particularly what power supply (brand, model & wattage) are/were you using? What memory voltage did you run the memory at?

 

[outer]

Hey,

System specs:

Athlon64 3400+
motherboard:
2GB Transcend RAM
PSU is 200W Sparkle Power, in a miniATX system
Gigabyte GA-K8VT800M

Thanks for the replies, The motherboard specs do mention that it supports up to 3GB:

Type: DDR400/ 333/ 266- 184pin
Max capacity: Up to 3GB by 2 DIMM slots

but it's only got two slots. It even mentions 1GB CS in the list of modules supported. I haven't adjusted the voltage or anything, I'm not OC'ing, just stock. I actually had it up and running a few times, but kept getting blue screens and write errors.... It never mentions changing the voltage
in the manual.

I bought 2 sticks initially, the system would only POST on one of them, so I RMA'd it. I got it up and running on the other one (1GB). Eventually after many many crashed and days of troubleshooting, I could only assume that the motherboard and/or the last stick of memory was somehow faulty, so I RMA'd them too.

 

[Vette73]

So it works with one slab but not 2 correct? If so sounds like my same problem. I thionk this is just a memory controller problem. Also hae you tried running the slabs at PC2700 to see if that helps??

 

[outer]

Here's a little more info:
Transcend says they test their memory. also, Gigabyt emailed me back and said:

Please check the memory, try it in different dimm slots. There could be a memory compatibility issue here. We recommend you to use kingston or crucial memory which has been tested. You might want to try checking those memory from their website and select on your motherboard model# and it'll tell you which type of memory is supported with your board.

Kingston's reccomended 1GB stick is $600 by itself, (non ECC).

when I bought this stuff, I looked on AMD's site, and They made it sound like any DDR400 would work. In addition, they also reccomend the motherboard I chose. Now I haven't built a new system since PC133 was new, but that seemed good enough!

 

[outer]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
So it works with one slab but not 2 correct? If so sounds like my same problem. I thionk this is just a memory controller problem. Also hae you tried running the slabs at PC2700 to see if that helps??

Pretty much.... but one slab would not run at all, not even by itself... so I assumed it was bad.

 

[mechBgon]

200W is pretty skimpy. In fact, if I were building a typical enthusiast-caliber Athlon64 3400+ system (multiple drives, powerful video card, etc), I wouldn't be going for anything less than a high-quality 350W+ unit, by which I mean a brand like Enermax, Sparkle Power or Antec, or something else with a proven reputation. Some people think I'm off the deep end on the wattage issue, so take it with a grain of salt... but not many people will recommend anything less than a high-quality 300W unit, with the first emphasis being on the quality, not the wattage.

 

[Peter]

That, and the usual reminder that with four ranks of memory (two double-sided DIMMs), getting unbuffered DDR400 to work is pushing your luck HARD. This is not a limitation of AMD CPUs, but rather an electrical reality that is even documented in the JEDEC DDR specification.

You either step down to DDR333, or use an architecture with more than one RAM channel - that'll be socket 940, where thanks to Registered DIMM technology, DDR400 still works with four DIMMs 1 GByte each. That's per CPU - so if you choose a dual Opteron board, you're in for 8 GB max.

 

[Snark42]

whoa!?? 200watts??!!! That's not very much at all seeing as how the A64 3400+ requires nearly 100w by itself.

 

[Buz2b]

Just popping in here to say, "What Peter and Mechbgon said!" Even a micro ATX system with limited accessories would stress that 200 watt PS. I've seen similar situations discussed as mentioned by Peter also. I believe there was someone on another board that was able to throttle to DDR333 with success. If I can find that discussion, I'll link to it for you but it was a while back.

 

[outer]

Thanks for the replies... What do you think is better for someone in my case (print graphics work) 2GB of DDR333 (with the possibliity of it not working) or 1GB of DDR400?

 

[mechBgon]

2GB of DDR333 (plus a nice shiny Antec TruePower 430) gets my vote. DDR333 is slower than DDR400, but it's still vastly faster than having your system fall back on the hard drive because it ran out of RAM. If you want to try a different memory brand, try Mushkin or Corsair. From what I've heard, Mushkin's support is pretty hard to beat, and both of them come with lifetime warranties. But the first thing is to get a reasonable power supply for that rig :Q

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
2GB of DDR333 (plus a nice shiny Antec TruePower 430) gets my vote. DDR333 is slower than DDR400, but it's still vastly faster than having your system fall back on the hard drive because it ran out of RAM. If you want to try a different memory brand, try Mushkin or Corsair. From what I've heard, Mushkin's support is pretty hard to beat, and both of them come with lifetime warranties. But the first thing is to get a reasonable power supply for that rig :Q

Works fo rme. You do need a good PS for that system; first and fomost! Do that and then start fooling around other items.

 

[outer]

you guys are the best, thanks for the tips

 

[outer]

Hey check this out:

Monarch computers is selling an athlon64 system with 2GB of corsair (twin matched) memory. their board is the same as mine, and their PSU is 200 W!

What do you make of that? Culd I perhaps get by with some Corsair TWINX2048RE-3200 memory? (they don't have a similar package win DDR333)

 

[Boonesmi]

you seriously need a new powersupply

 

[Peter]

There are 200W supplies, and then there are "200W" supplies.

If the PSU is carefully balanced to match the exact load pattern of the system, and at the same time the system has little expansion capabilities, you'll get away with a 200W supply that actually really supplies 200W, exactly spread across the various voltage rails just in the way this particular system needs it.

Draw a random 200W supply out of an old box, stick it into a standard ATX case and try to run a standard fullsize system off it? Forget that.

 

[batmanuel]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
200W is pretty skimpy. In fact, if I were building a typical enthusiast-caliber Athlon64 3400+ system (multiple drives, powerful video card, etc), I wouldn't be going for anything less than a high-quality 350W+ unit, by which I mean a brand like Enermax, Sparkle Power or Antec, or something else with a proven reputation. Some people think I'm off the deep end on the wattage issue, so take it with a grain of salt... but not many people will recommend anything less than a high-quality 300W unit, with the first emphasis being on the quality, not the wattage.

Amen, brother. Keep speaking the truth on the power issue. I saddens me so when people spend a lot on high end RAM, video cards and processors but neglect one of the most important components on a system. If you buy a nice high-wattage good-quality one with nice beefy voltage rails, there is also a really good chance it will be the one component that becomes obsolete last, so spending $80-$90 on a TruePower is similar quality PS is really one of the best investments you can make equipment wise. Chances are it will be happily powering your rig long after your top of the line processor has been sold on E-Bay for $50.

 

[mechBgon]

Thanks for the support

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: outer
Hey check this out:

Monarch computers is selling an athlon64 system with 2GB of corsair (twin matched) memory. their board is the same as mine, and their PSU is 200 W!

What do you make of that? Culd I perhaps get by with some Corsair TWINX2048RE-3200 memory? (they don't have a similar package win DDR333)

As you can see from posts made after that, Power is one of the keys. I will admint that Monarch is using a decent 200 watt PS on that unit they advertise but I don't think you are building the same unit as they are. Why don't you provide some more details as to what you are trying to build here? I think that may be more of a "point" than anything else. BTW, I consider Monarch a good quality buiilder, so I am not challenging what they are showing. I'm just not sure that what we thought you were building is the same as what they are talking about. Especially when you talk about doing, print- graphics works; which I don't think most people would do with a SFF system. Perhaps you could enlighten us?

 

[outer]

Anyhow, my goal was a smallish desktop computer. small, quiet, yet powerful. Seeing computers like Monarch's Hornet really made me think that I could do it. I even called themto ask them about it, but the tech I got wasn't really helpful, he just kept referring to their site, "if it was there, it would work. "
I work at home in a small office, and my old Inwin Q500 tower is pretty darn loud. I think my problem was in the hardware I bought: sparkle-power 200w PSU and transcend brand memory. I just went out yesterday and got the Antec Sonata with a Truepower 380 PSU in it... and I'm going to return my memory and get 2GB DDR 333 from Kingston's reccomended list for the MB. Think that should do it? I'm the kind of person who doesn't really upgrade too often, so when I do, I want to pretty much max out my options.

 

[Vette73]

You can run your PC3200 (400Mhz) at PC2700 (333Mhz) so no need to return it.

 

[Boonesmi]

a system i recently put together for a guy was originally going to use an athlon64, but he wanted to start with 2gb of ram and later be able to add 2gb more (for 4gb total)

thats why we decided to go with the opteron